diff --git a/builder/builder_test.go b/builder/builder_test.go
index 130a4a01df7..669574b826f 100644
--- a/builder/builder_test.go
+++ b/builder/builder_test.go
@@ -29,7 +29,10 @@ func TestCsvToMap(t *testing.T) {
 }
 
 func TestParseBuildkitdFlags(t *testing.T) {
-	buildkitdConf := `
+	dirConf := t.TempDir()
+
+	buildkitdConfPath := path.Join(dirConf, "buildkitd-conf.toml")
+	require.NoError(t, os.WriteFile(buildkitdConfPath, []byte(`
 # debug enables additional debug logging
 debug = true
 # insecure-entitlements allows insecure entitlements, disabled by default.
@@ -37,10 +40,13 @@ insecure-entitlements = [ "network.host", "security.insecure" ]
 [log]
   # log formatter: json or text
   format = "text"
-`
-	dirConf := t.TempDir()
-	buildkitdConfPath := path.Join(dirConf, "buildkitd-conf.toml")
-	require.NoError(t, os.WriteFile(buildkitdConfPath, []byte(buildkitdConf), 0644))
+`), 0644))
+
+	buildkitdConfBrokenPath := path.Join(dirConf, "buildkitd-conf-broken.toml")
+	require.NoError(t, os.WriteFile(buildkitdConfBrokenPath, []byte(`
+[worker.oci]
+  gc = "maybe"
+`), 0644))
 
 	testCases := []struct {
 		name                string
@@ -157,6 +163,15 @@ insecure-entitlements = [ "network.host", "security.insecure" ]
 			nil,
 			true,
 		},
+		{
+			"error parsing buildkit config",
+			"",
+			"docker-container",
+			nil,
+			buildkitdConfBrokenPath,
+			nil,
+			true,
+		},
 	}
 	for _, tt := range testCases {
 		tt := tt
diff --git a/util/confutil/config.go b/util/confutil/config.go
index c3814c22ee2..ebd42b2a278 100644
--- a/util/confutil/config.go
+++ b/util/confutil/config.go
@@ -9,6 +9,7 @@ import (
 
 	"github.com/docker/cli/cli/command"
 	"github.com/docker/docker/pkg/ioutils"
+	"github.com/moby/buildkit/cmd/buildkitd/config"
 	"github.com/pelletier/go-toml"
 	"github.com/pkg/errors"
 	fs "github.com/tonistiigi/fsutil/copy"
@@ -151,7 +152,11 @@ func LoadConfigTree(fp string) (*toml.Tree, error) {
 	defer f.Close()
 	t, err := toml.LoadReader(f)
 	if err != nil {
-		return t, errors.Wrap(err, "failed to parse config")
+		return t, errors.Wrap(err, "failed to parse buildkit config")
+	}
+	var bkcfg config.Config
+	if err = t.Unmarshal(&bkcfg); err != nil {
+		return t, errors.Wrap(err, "failed to parse buildkit config")
 	}
 	return t, nil
 }